Monday 3 June 2013 17:56, UK
Rite Of Passage is on course to make his seasonal debut in the Seamus & Rosemary McGrath Memorial Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown on Friday.
Prendergast has no regrets about not entering Sugar Boy for the Derby at Epsom but there would have to be significant rain for him to run at Leopardstown. He told At The Races: "I never had him in at Epsom as I didn't think he'd handle the track, but I have no regrets seeing how the race was run. It turned out very messy and rough. "At the time we didn't realise how the Sandown race was going to work out and obviously Karl Burke's horse (Libertarian, second in Derby) ran wide off the bend and didn't help his cause and David Wachman's horse (Galileo Rock, third) also ran a nice race. We can now go to the Curragh (Irish Derby) full of hope. "Something drastic will have to happen with the weather if I'm to turn up this weekend. It's one thing running in the Irish Derby on quick ground but I won't risk jarring him in a prep race. "The race at Leopardstown is supposed to benefit him but if it's not going to do that I'll leave him at home. I'm very happy with him, I think he's a better horse now than at Sandown."
